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NALP Bulletin, June 2006

NALP’s graduate employment data show that, historically, women and minorities
are less likely to take jobs in law firms and more likely to take jobs with
public sector employers. The table below shows the kinds of jobs taken by the
Classes of 1982, 1994, and 2004. Note that minorities are defined as
African-Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders (including East Indian/Pakistanis),
Native Americans, and Hispanics of any race.

Compared to men, women from the Class of 2004 were less likely to enter
private practice and more likely to accept positions in government or public
interest organizations or as judicial clerks. Although this pattern is similar
to those of prior years, the differences have narrowed. Women, however, remain
about twice as likely as men to take public interest jobs.

It is also the case that, compared with men going into private practice,
women are somewhat more likely to take jobs in firms of more than 100 lawyers,
and somewhat less likely to take jobs in very small firms of 2-10 lawyers. The
percentage of women going into private practice and taking jobs in firms of more
than 100 lawyers has been about 3 percentage points higher than the rate for
men.

Minorities likewise enter private practice less frequently than do
non-minorities. However, the 7 percentage point differential in 2004 is well
below the almost 16 percentage point difference in 1982, and also contrasts with
about an 11 percentage point differential as recently as the mid-1990s.

Minorities entering private practice are more likely to obtain jobs in firms
of more than 100 lawyers than are non-minorities, even as the share of jobs in
large firms has generally increased over the period for both groups. For the
Class of 2004, the figures were 39.2% and 33.3%, respectively. The difference
has fluctuated from about 7 percentage points in 1982, to just over 11
percentage points in 1994, to about 6 percentage points in 2004.

Compared to non-minorities, minorities have been and remain more likely to
take jobs in government and public interest organizations. However, because of
an overall decline in the prevalence of such jobs among minorities and an
increase in public service employment among non-minorities, the difference in
2004 is less than half of what it was in 1994. The relative decline in
government and public interest employment among minorities is noteworthy — from
over 28% of jobs to about 21% of jobs.

Initial Employer Types — Comparisons for the
Classes of
1982, 1994, and 2004

Men and Women

1982

1994

2004

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Private Practice

60.4%

54.2%

58.9%

51.4%

58.6%

56.0%

Size of Firm*

Solo

7.7

5.8

5.7

4.1

3.3

2.2

2-10

38.9

36.9

36.0

35.6

32.1

30.6

11-25

14.4

13.5

12.1

10.8

10.8

10.7

26-50

10.7

10.1

7.6

6.5

7.2

6.4

51-100

9.5

11.7

7.6

7.9

5.8

6.3

101+

13.9

17.0

22.4

26.0

33.0

35.9

Business/Industry

11.5

8.5

12.2

10.9

12.5

10.0;

Government

12.8

14.2

12.6

14.9

12.1

11.9

Judicial Clerkships

9.4

13.8

11.4

15.2

10.7

12.8

Public Interest

1.4

3.4

1.8

3.8

3.4

6.1

Academic

1.1

1.9

0.8

1.4

1.4

1.7

Total # of Jobs

15,695

7,139

13,936

10,076

15,426

14,769

Minorities and Non-Minorities

1982

1994

2004

Non-minorities

Minorities

Non-minorities

Minorities

Non-minorities

Minorities

Private Practice

59.4%

43.5%

57.5%

46.2%

58.7%

51.7%

Size of Firm*

Solo

7.2

6.5

5.2

4.7

2.7

3.2

2-10

38.4

35.5

37.4

27.5

32.4

28.2

11-25

14.3

11.1

12.1

8.9

11.5

8.1

26-50

10.7

8.1

7.5

5.6

7.1

5.4

51-100

10.1

10.0

7.6

9.3

6.3

5.7

101+

14.5

21.3

22.7

34.0

33.3

39.2

Business/Industry

10.5

11.4

11.7

11.4

10.8

12.8

Government

12.8

21.0

12.4

20.8

11.6

13.9

Judicial Clerkships

10.9

9.6

13.3

11.6

12.1

10.5

Public Interest

1.7

7.4

2.2

5.4

4.3

6.8

Academic

1.3

1.8

0.9

1.8

1.4

2.5

Total # of Jobs

21,495

1,339

19,622

3,298

23,014

5,590

Note: Percentages are based on all graduates known to be employed, including
those for whom employer types are not shown; hence percentages may not add to
100. Information for 1982 was adjusted to exclude graduates pursuing an advanced
degree from the academic category and to include public defenders in the
government category, as they were in 1994. However, effective with the Class of
2004, the public interest category once again includes public defenders.

* Percentages by size of firm are based on law firm jobs only and do not add
to 100 because the unknown size category is not shown.